While the other 12 sleep, I’m up early as decided to hike up to Rupurara Rock. The hike starts at 6:30am which means I’m up at 6:15am. I arrive at reception to see if there’s anyone waiting for for me, but there’s no one and Boniver the on duty manager tells me the guide seems to be ´missing´ and due to communication problems in the area, they can’t get hold of him. So I wait… I wait and take photos.

Rupurara Rock in the morning

At 8am, the guide was still not there so I decided to have breakfast with my group who slowly trickling into the dinning area for breakfast. Breakfast was the typical style full English which I absolutely love! The Brazilians and Portuguese in the group, despite enjoying it, are not used to these hearty breakfasts as they are used to the continental bread and jam excuse.

After breakfast we all check out and got ready for our journey through the mountains to the waterfalls and then back to Mozambique. The Inn was great and was exactly what I needed: Relaxation within a very natural settings.

The road towards Pungue Falls

We were off again, into the mountains on a dirt track heading to our first sight of the day: Pungue Falls and gorge. I didn’t know what to expect, but when I arrived at the viewing point I was blown away! Ahead of me was a set from Lord of the Rings… I was a hobbit again in Middle Earth*. The beautiful green mountains ahead of me was carved open by the Pungue River creating the gorge. As always in situations like this, I became introverted and silent within this group of 13 people. I couldn´t get enough of this gorgeous view, but unfortunately we had to leave we had another waterfall to see and a long drive back to Mozambique.

Tonito at Pungue Gorge

Off we drove along the dirt path towards Mtarazi Falls. It is a 762 m free-leaping waterfall of two delicate tiers, in the Honde Valley in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. The falls occur at a point where the Mtarazi river flows over the edge of the eastern escarpment of Zimbabwe’s highlands. The waterfall is the 17th highest in the world and the second highest in Africa.

Small hike; Amazing views

We followed the road until we reached an entrance manned by a Zimbawean Parks where we paid our entrance fees and drove as far as we could, from where we had another 600m hike before reaching the viewpoints of this amazing waterfall. The setting is stunning as the river simply drops from the mountain into the vast valley below. All of us spent a good hour taking in the spectacular views.

Mtarazi Falls

Hiking back to the car I was once again reminded of how lucky I am to be able to travel and see these amazing sights. Though there was a slight hint of sadness that Raquel was not with me to see these amazing places. Soon enough we will experience this together.

The group at Mtarazi

Lunching at Mutare

We took our final group picture at the Mtarazi sign before the hike before getting into the cars and making our way back to Mutare where had a quick lunch before heading back to the border. Considering the state of the roads on the Mozambican side we didn’t want to risk driving at night.

The long drive back

This time we had no problems at the border and five hours late we were back in Beira; tired but extremely happy with our trip!